The Kid in the Catalogs
by daydreamer and believer
Summary: Just a little multi-chapter story about a new case and our favorite dream team. Fluff inevitable and maybe more. Rated T for now to be safe. May change for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just a story about our favorite duo that I can't seem to get out of my head. A case. Some fluff. And maybe even some smut if we're lucky. Sadly, I do not own Bones.**

"Do you have anything for me?" She asked striding through the door to the artist's large screen.

"Well, I ran a few scenarios based on the parameters you gave me ..."

"Yes?"

"And I think your hunch was right," she said affirmatively.

"No, Angela, it wasn't a hunch," she explained, "I merely evaluated the bones we have and concluded that the fatal injuries weren't congruent with a car accident."

"Then what did you need me for sweetie?" Angela smiled.

Bones pursed her lips, "I'd like to see your scenarios please."

"Okay, if you'll look at each of these three clips … You see each one represents slight variations on the most likely sequence of flips after the car went over the edge before hitting the ground below." They watched each clip a second time

She pondered the screen for a moment before saying, "I believe you've adequately demonstrated what the forensic evidence shows."

"Yeah, you're welcome sweetie."

She pursed her lips again. "Thank you Angela."

She walked back to her office intent on calling booth to tell him the findings but when she arrived at her door she noticed him lounging back on her couch. As she drew nearer, she saw that his eyes were closed and she thought for a moment that he was asleep. She stood over him silently watching him quietly: his breathing was even, his face muscles were relaxed, his eyes underneath the lids were … completely still? … didn't he dream when he slept? Isn't it proven that all mammals dream even in the lightest stages of REM? As she was contemplating this, he opened his eyes to hers directly above him. She felt a twinge of guilt like she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't have been and felt her cheeks flush. She turned from him, furrowing her brow and walking back toward her desk. "I thought you might have fallen asleep," she said bluntly.

He sat for a moment in silence watching her walk back to her desk. Was she watching me? Why? He chuckled, "No, just looking at the inside of my eyelids."

"But how could you see them in the dark?" she began asking, as she turned to look at him. Seeing the smirk on his face, she said, "oh, ha ha. Why are you here?"

"Gee, I missed you too, Bones," he said acting affronted.

She snapped her head up to meet his gaze then forced herself to look down again. "I meant, do we have a new case?"

"No," he said, as he stood up. "I was hungry and figured you wouldn't eat otherwise today." He was watching her intently and saw that her mood shifted noticeably when he said they didn't have a case. Since when was she happy when they didn't have a case? Lord knows he wasn't. Jeez, she looked almost giddy.

As he'd been thinking on her motives, she'd joined him back at the couch, touching his arm and smiling delightfully, "Good, because I have one for us."

Once he got past the jolt her touch had caused, he asked, "What? What do you mean you have one?"

"I mean, I have a case for us… " She began to busily tell him the story of working in bone storage over the weekend, and coming back to the bones of the 14 year old who'd been found in the remains of a burned and wrecked vehicle at the bottom of that gorge in Georgia. The remains had been nearly unidentifiable when they were brought in, though no one seemed too concerned as it appeared to have been a so-called "joy ride" that ended badly. She hadn't been satisfied with those assumptions from the beginning but hadn't had much time to put into finding the fallacies, until this past weekend.

"Wait," he interrupted, "this weekend? You told me you weren't working this weekend. Is that what you were doing when you couldn't meet me and Parker for ice cream?" His tone was incredulous.

"Booth," she steadied, "you're not listening to me and no, I was … going out."

He stopped her from resuming her story by blurting out, "Going out? Where?"

"That's not relevant to the case, Booth," she stated matter-of-factly.

"What case. There is no case."

"Yes, that's what I'm trying to tell you. I've had Angela develop some scenarios based upon the forensic evidence I've evaluated that clearly indicate the boy did not die from a car accident."

"So?" was his response.

"So?" she repeated quietly; now it was her turn to look incredulously. She continued, "So … the evidence suggests that he was dead before that car went over the cliff."

His face indicated recognition of her point but then disappointment. "Bones, I really don't think this is a case for us."

"Why not Booth? This is what we do." She said. He smiled. She continued, "We take bones and we solve the mysteries surrounding them." She made it sound so simple.

"We solve mysteries?" he jeered, eyeing her while flashing a smile.

"You know what I mean," she said, waving in the air as if trying to wipe his smile away. "Just follow me." He willingly obliged, trailing behind her back to Angela's office. When they entered, Angela and Hodgins appeared to be in a rather animated though quiet conversation. Bones didn't notice though, walking straight to face the screen while saying, "Angela, show Booth the scenarios."

The two ex-lovers stopped their conversation abruptly and Booth cleared his throat before saying, "Uh … yeah … let's come back later Bones, I'm hungry" while placing his hand on her lower back and attempting to guide her toward the door.

"No, it's fine," Angela said abruptly, and Hodgins shook his head before storming out.

Angela picked up her remote and walked toward the screen standing alongside Booth and Bones facing the screen. Booth looked at her willing "you ok?" to silently travel from his eyes; her eyes responded and it was clear to him they said "don't ask."

The three watched the scenarios intently. Once they were completed, Bones turned to face Booth directly. "See?" she asked. "It wasn't an accident. This is a case Booth."

"Bones," he began, gently, "this isn't really the way it works. You know somebody finds a body, they call the cops, the cops call the feds and I come get you. That's the drill."

"I don't know what that means," she said as she folded her arms and he thought for certain that while she may not understand it, she was definitely angered by it.

Trying to ease the situation a bit more, he proffered, "See, we don't have anything to go on here, no fresh crime scene, no ID on the victim – right?" She nodded curtly and he continued. "Hell, do we even know where or how it happened? How long ago was it? I mean, how can we investigate when we don't have anything to go on?"

"I believe I can give you everything you need," she stated firmly.

Angela, who'd been silent to this point, made a definite 'humph' noise. Catching Booth's eyes, then Brennan's, then seeing them look at each other, she mumbled "sorry" and began moving toward the exit.

"Forensically, of course," Bones corrected.

"I'm sure you can, Bones," he said softly, moving slightly toward her and ignoring Angela's faint squeal as she excused herself from her own office. "I'm just not sure it's something worth taking on."

Bones backed away from him, recreating the distance between them. "Who determines what's worth it. It's a person, a child even, who has died, under unnatural circumstances, at the hand of someone else. Doesn't he deserve justice?" She furrowed her brow at herself.

A dead body deserving justice? Did Temperance Brennan just say that? His confusion must have shown on his face because she abruptly said, "I'm not hungry. I have work to do." With that she left Angela's office and disappeared back down the corridor which he knew led to bone storage.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Thanks for those who put me on alert. Would love a review or two ... Again, I don't own Bones.**

She spent the remainder of the day pouring over the bones, attempting to discern something, anything, from them. There was something there. She was certain of it. Was this a hunch like Angela said? No, that was completely irrational. It was simply an educated theory based upon her extensive knowledge of forensic anthropology. Her phone rang, and she looked to see that it was Booth again. He'd called at least 3 times already since she left him standing in Angela's office; she'd let it go straight to voicemail each time, and this time as well, though she did take it as a cue to leave.

She was standing in her bathroom applying mascara and singing along with a Cyndi Lauper song and didn't hear the knock at her door. He knocked twice and when she didn't answer he tried the knob. It was open. He walked in and started to call out but heard her voice and decided to enjoy the sounds for a moment. He closed the door and walked closer to the bedroom; he could tell that she must be in her bathroom with the radio on and that's why she didn't hear the door. He leaned against the door frame and closed his eyes, just listening, drinking her in with his ears. He was so startled when the radio turned off mid-song that he jolted back and bumped a vase sitting atop a small phone bureau. She heard the noise and called out, as she walked from the bathroom, "Oh, you're here, well, I'm rea--" she stopped abruptly as she rounded the corner and stood face to face with Booth.

He was stunned for a moment at the sight of her. She had on a flared knee-length black dress, with thin straps and a fitted waist and strappy black heels. Her hair was tied up loosely with strands falling around her face and softly against her neck. Her blue eyes were accentuated with a smokiness and her lips … he gulped and sucked in air.

She noticed. "Hi" was all she could muster.

"Hi," he countered softly. He tried to casually pull himself back to reality and was afraid he'd visually shaken himself. Attempting to cover his reaction to her he started, "You know your door was wide open?" He flung his arm up toward the door. "You know anyone could have walked in?" Was she smirking at him? What was so funny? "You were in there," flinging his other arm in the direction of her bedroom/bathroom, "someone could have just walked in and snuck up on you and … done who knows what!" He was panting now … was he really panting? Oh god, Seeley get a hold of yourself.

"Maybe I'd like the surprise?" She said in a sultry teasing voice.

"Bones!" he belted.

She sighed. "No one walked in and "snuck up" on me," she began.

"I did!" His voice cracked.

"You didn't sneak Booth. You don't sneak." She laughed and walked past him.

"Ha!" It was louder than he'd meant it and she turned around quickly. "I sneak. I was a sniper remember." He was visibly furious. And she seemed to be enjoying it. Why would she enjoy this?

"I meant sneak up on a woman Booth … on me." She couldn't look at him anymore and he couldn't not look at her.

After a few seconds of silence, she blurted "What are you doing here?"

Apparently he didn't offer an answer quickly enough, as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other and put her hand on her hip. His eyes followed her movements and ended with her hand on that hip. He gulped again. God she looked good. Why did she look so good? Oh no, he thought, as reality sunk in.

"Well, I was hoping you weren't still mad about this afternoon and thought we could go get dinner but apparently …," he trailed off motioning toward her up and down.

"Um, yes," she said, smoothing her dress over her stomach and slightly down her legs. He gulped again. "I have plans this evening. You might've call--" she stopped herself. He'd been trying to call her all afternoon.

"Yeah, I did," he said, still angry and defiantly walking to the door.

"Booth," she began, reaching toward him as he opened the door just as the man on the other side had raised his fist to knock.

Booth froze, staring ahead at disbelief at the reason for Bones plans … as Sully smiled at the both of them and said, "Well hello Booth … Tempe."

Booth, in silence, stepped aside as Sully passed him entering the apartment. He looked back and forth from Booth to Bones and said "I'm not interrupting am I? You said 7:30 right, Tempe?'

She was shaking her head more vigorously than necessary. "No, nothing. Yes, I'm ready." She seemed to be talking rather quickly and attempted to steady herself. "Booth was just leaving."

"Oh," Sully said, sticking his hand out to Booth. Booth shook it abruptly, nodded to both of them, though never making eye contact with Bones again, and walked out.

He managed to make it safely to his car out front of her building before hitting something. He pounded on the top of the steering wheel a few times when he noticed the two leaving her building. He was sure Bones knew he was still sitting there, though she never looked back toward him. Instead, she and Sully exited the building and walked to his car parked several in front of Booth alongside the road.

He resisted the urge to follow them. She'd have his ass if she knew he even considered it. Hmph … maybe that wouldn't be so bad. He quickly shook that idea from his mind. Instead, he went home to an empty apartment, flicked on the TV to ESPN and battled his tendency to obsess while downing a six pack.


End file.
